Dark Tourism & Ghost Stories

Behind the gift shops and waterfalls, these mountains have a long, sometimes grim history: gold fever, the removal of the Cherokee, logging camps, hard winters. October is when the parks and nearby towns lean into it with lantern hikes, ghost walks and costume parties. Some of it is for kids; some of it isn't.

Dates can change, so confirm with the organizer. See our events calendar for the full list, and the Georgia State Parks listing for the Smithgall Woods hike.

Stovall Mill Covered Bridge in the Sautee Nacoochee valley is a 33-foot wooden bridge built in 1895, the smallest covered bridge in Georgia. It's easy to reach, free to visit and good at dusk, though don't expect a ghost on a schedule.

Like most of the rural South, this region has "crybaby bridge" stories, the kind where locals say you can hear a baby crying if you stop on an old bridge at night. They're folklore, and they're told about dozens of bridges, so treat them as campfire entertainment. Please don't park on narrow road bridges after dark; it's a safety problem long before it's a ghost problem.

Further afield, the Georgia Nuclear Aircraft Laboratory in Dawson Forest was a Cold War research site where Lockheed studied whether nuclear-powered aircraft were feasible. It closed in 1971, and what's left is mostly concrete foundations and flooded underground rooms. Check with the Georgia Forestry Commission, which manages Dawson Forest, about access before you go.

The best-known true-crime story in this part of Georgia is Corpsewood Manor in Chattooga County, a handmade home in the woods where two men were killed in 1982. It's a tragedy, not an attraction: the ruins are on private land, so we don't send visitors there.